Jawbone Road and Doe Flat

View of Lake Earl from the end of Lake View Road

I set out for the coast at 0700. I go straight to lake view road and sit there in the car for about an hour. It is exactly as described by Barron (2001). About 20 Great Egrets, 2 Great Blue Herons, 3-4 Yellowlegs that seem to me to be Greater; a very close view of a Northern Harrier in front of the windscreen and good numbers of Western Sandpipers along the shoreline feeding busily on the muds. Probably a couple of hundred in view all told. A few very scruffy gulls that included one or two certain Californian Gulls. The duck were mostly Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal, about 30 of each, with lesser numbers of Mallard and 2 Gadwall and 3 Northern Pintail. A honking Canada Goose eventually came in sight as it flew across the lake towards the N and later a small skein of 8-10 flew off E. An American Bittern seen briefly sitting out on a low clump before it scuttled off into the rushes (Eleocharis-like but tall) was a pleasing bonus.

Cliff edge near Point St George looking west

Next, I drove out to Point St George stopping on the way to look at Castle Rock. Here I saw at close range two Marsh Wrens at the side of the pull out and under the car!

Castle Rock from Point St George

A much better day at the Point with the St George Reef lighthouse now visible, at least partly, with its top still in the mist. A party of about 30 Lesser Goldfinch, glimpsed yesterday in the same area but seen well today, was hanging about one of the fenced off areas near the mast at the point. They flew down to feed on the ground amongst the grasses. Out to sea there was a gathering of about 50 Western Grebe idly drifting on the sea and scattered small parties of Surf Scoter doing much the same. A small group of about 6-8 Marbled Murrelets was identified and at least 1 Pigeon Guillemot and a Common Murre seen flying. Numerous Western Gulls were hanging about in the rock pools below. Also, two Spotted Sandpipers. A few Common Ravens seen. I checked out a few Pelagic Cormorants on the offshore stacks but could not find a Brandt’s amongst them. Double-crested Cormorants were passing in small flights, mostly going N as were Brown Pelican. An Osprey was again present but not seen to take anything. Some Cliff Swallows in flight along the cliff edge.

Panoramic view of Castle Rock from Pebble Beach Drive

I now returned towards Crescent City stopping off to have a closer look at Castle Rock. Several groups of Brown Pelican and cormorants that I took to be Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants, the latter, it seemed, more often on the steeper cliff slopes. To the E of the Rock on the lower rock stacks and rock shelf a loud gathering of California Sea Lions was present and a few Harbour Seal were hauled out amongst them. Must have been 50-100 Sea Lions and about 10-20 Harbour Seal in view. I see some Surf Scoter along the surf break and note that a male was in full wing moult. Each time it dived or rode through the surf break it would either do a whole body shake or rise up and wing flap when I could see that it had no remiges or they were at least still very short. Certainly unable to fly. Interesting. Suggests they disperse from their breeding grounds before moulting.

Scruffy 'glucose' Gull. Glaucous-winged Gull?

Back in Crescent city I go to B Street pier and then to the Elk Creek outfall and have a brief look at the gulls. It seems about 2% are Glaucous-winged Gulls. Two Caspian Tern growl past. A couple of Western Gulls, of slightly different plumage stages, in pair formation displays in the car park. The more mature bird calling and strutting round the younger. There are some Common Ravens sitting on the backs of park benches and hoards of Brewer’s Blackbirds mixed in with lesser numbers of European Starling on the nearby grassy lawns.

Courting Western Gulls

Collect some pastries from the bakery and head on back to the Cabin.

We set off almost immediately for a drive up Jawbone Road past Bear Basin Butte down to the trail head for Doe Flat. It says in the guide that the trailhead is at 4100’ and Doe Flat is at 3200’. Along the road we seen 3 Northern Flickers but not much else. The trail head is on a superb hillside lookout.

Views from Doe Flat trailhead

Black-tailed (Mule) Deer hinds

There are two Black-tailed (Mule) Deer at the car park. The first part of the trail heads downhill along a road to an old chrome mine. At 1.5 miles and at 3900’ a short branch to the right goes up to Buck Lake. By this point we have entered the Siskiyou Wilderness area. We head on down to Doe Flat. We probably travel at least 1 mile from the Buck Lake fork before turning back. The whole trail is in mixed conifer forest with at least Douglass Fir and Sugar Pine but I suspect at least 3-4 other significant conifers that we do not identify.

'Spanish moss'

Snapshots along the trail

We hear a few birds but only Steller’s Jay is identified on the outward journey. On the return we have much better luck with a good view of a noisy Pileated Woodpecker that flies into a tall fir at Doe Flat and disappears despite still calling for some minutes. Absolutely infuriating! A Pacific-slope Flycatcher meanwhile stays top a dead snag and calls steadily for 10 minutes or more. Probably the soft male tseeweep of Sibley. A little further along we surprise two Varied Thrush and see them briefly at close range. David does the side walk to Buck Lake which was only a few hundred yards off but Tracey and I continue back up the hill to where we left the car. A dull immature Slate-coloured Junco with its distinctive white outer tail feathers is the only other bird identified. Most of the time the forests are silent. We occasionally see a Merriam’s Chipmunk and come across three together when we reach to the car.

Merriam's Chipmunks

We drive home and see two Band-tailed Pigeons just before we get back onto the Highway. We head straight to She She’s in Gasquet for dinner. Home exhausted!

Pileated Woodpeckler and Lesser Goldfinch highlights today